Fraud against the
Commonwealth: Report
to Government 2014

Statistical report no. 01

Abstract | In response to the censuses, more than a third of Commonwealth entities reported
experiencing fraud over the four financial years 2010–11 to 2013–14. Over 90 percent of
reported frauds were allegedly perpetrated by members of the public, and the remainder by
Commonwealth employees or contractors. Commonwealth entities reported 391,831 incidents
of alleged, suspected and proven fraud over the four-year period.

Fraud losses totalled approximately $1.203b over the four financial years, increasing from
$119m in 2010–11 to $673m in 2013–14. During this time, entities also recovered $75.3m
previously lost to fraud (whether during these years or earlier).